#but when you're talking about 'oh Carcosa did this Carcosa did that' it's them. they did it.

[pinkpuffballdude]

👀 what's your interpretation of Hastur and the King in Yellow?

OKAY SO we're gonna start at the beginning. Malevolent. I started listening at the recommendation of one of my friends, and very thoroughly enjoyed myself right up until Yellow was introduced and he stressed me out soso bad. however I loved the concept, and the atmosphere, and kept thinking idly about how someone could act differently from Arthur in the same or similar circumstances. this combined with my theoretical Calamity character, a time traveling historian, into Jacqueline Little, member of the Temporal Historians Society and current resident of 1934 ish.

but why does this matter. WELL if this was discord I'd spoiler this rn however it's not so I'll just say MALEVOLENT SPOILERS and continue. the King in Yellow features heavily in this podcast, due to the fact that John is a leetl piece of him, fractured off and possessing his own free will now (good for him). but I don't know Anything about the cthulhu mythos, and any characterization I'd make would be based entirely on the podcast I'm already lowkey ripping off, which I'm deeply uncomfortable with. I decide to go and read The Source Material, finding that Lovecraft didn't even come up with Hastur, or the King in Yellow! Lovecraft got both names from Robert Chambers, author of the book The King in Yellow, about a (fictional) play by the same name, and he got the name Hastur (and Carcosa and a couple others) from a collection of short stories, including Haïta the Shepherd. first I read the Dunwich Horror, to get a feel for the vibe, then I decided I wanted Hastur Exclusive Content and read Haïta the Shepherd, and am now most of the way through the King in Yellow (book).

something interesting I found is that neither Lovecraft nor Chambers ever tried to combine Hastur and the King in Yellow in any of their works- Chambers simply used Hastur as a fun cool name, and the King as a fleshed out character of his own, and Lovecraft just had them next to each other in a list of Spooky Dudes. Admittedly Lovecraft also had Hastur's followers hunting the Mi-Go, and an association with the Yellow Sign, which might be where people made the connection later on? but within Their Own Works there is nothing indicating that those are two names for the same entity. THAT was put forward by a completely different guy decades later, about the same time people started associating Old Ones with elements and shit and that sounds boring so I'm ignoring it. TMA did a good job categorizing horror without detracting from it- these people did not.

I essentially made a list of everything I associate with Hastur and the King, seperately, and came to the conclusion that they are 1) brothers of a kind 2) part of Carcosa/straight up Carcosa 3) the same person born twice. they look very similar and end up having similar goals, but Hastur is the country while the King is the ruler. when Carcosa the island does something, they act as one. they are one. when the land revolts against the king, Hastur attacks his brother. when the king is cruel to his subjects, the King in Yellow acts accordingly. they essentially act as physical metaphors for the state of the nation, and their personalities fit. Hastur tends to be more nuturing than the King, while the King cares more about control and getting people to do what he wants, by whatever means necessary.

I'd also like to mention that Hastur is the name of a lake in the King in Yellow (book/play), which is why Hastur is a manifestation of the land itself. he's also the lake at the same time, and possibly the moons though I think they share custody of the stars and suns.